Psalms 20:8

_THEY ARE BROUGHT DOWN AND FALLEN: BUT WE ARE RISEN, AND STAND UPRIGHT._ They are brought down and fallen. According to their objects of confidence respectively, so is the portion of the world and of the Church. Already faith sees the triumph of the godly and the overthrow of their enemies. WE ARE RISEN - implying that previously the godly were fallen, and their enemies had the upper hand. Faith sees this anomaly reversed, and the right order established....

8._They are bowed down. _It is probable that there is here pointed out, as it were with the finger, the enemies of Israel, whom God had overthrown, when they regarded no event as less likely to happen. There is contained in the words a tacit contrast between the cruel pride with which they had been lifted up for a time when they audaciously rushed forward to make havoc of all things on the one hand, and the oppression of the people of God on the other. The expression, _to rise, _is applied only to those who were before sunk or fallen; and, on the other hand, the expression, _bowed down and fallen, _is with propriety applied to those who were lifted up with pride and presumption. The prophet therefore teaches by the event, how much more advantageous it is for us to place all our confidence in God than to depend upon our own strength....

Verse Psalms 20:8. _THEY ARE BROUGHT DOWN AND FALLEN_] They were so confident of victory that they looked upon it as _already gained_. They who trusted in their _horses_ and _chariots_ are _bowed down_, and prostrated on the earth: they are all overthrown. _BUT WE ARE RISEN_] We who have trusted in the _name of Jehovah_ are _raised up_ from all despondency; and we _stand upright _- we shall conquer, and go on to conquer....

THEY ARE BROUGHT DOWN AND FALLEN - That is, those who trust in chariots and horses. The reference here is undoubtedly to the enemies against whom the king was about to wage war, and the language here is indicative of his certain conviction that they would be vanquished. So certain was he now of this that he could speak of it as if it were already done. “They “are” brought down.” He sees them in anticipation prostrate and subdued; he goes forth to war with the certainty on his mind that this would occur. The word rendered “brought down” - כרע _kâra‛_ - means “to bend,” “to bow” (as the knees); and then it refers to one who bows down before an enemy, that is, one who is subdued, Isaiah 10:4; Isaiah 65:12;...

EXPOSITION THIS psalm seems to have been composed for a special occasion, when David was about to proceed on an expedition against a foreign enemy. It is liturgical, and written to be recited in the court of the tabernacle by the high priest and people. The date of its composition is after the transfer of the ark from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David (2 Samuel 6:12-10), as appears from Psalms 20:2. The conjecture which attaches it to the Syrian War described in 2 Samuel 10:17-10, is probable. There is no reason to doubt the authorship of David, asserted in the title, and admitted by most critics. The psalm divides into two portions—the first of five, and the s

THEY ARE BROUGHT DOWN AND FALLEN,.... These are they that rode in chariots and on horses, and trusted in them; who are brought down from their places of honour and safety; and fall, not into the hands of their enemies, and into a low and mean estate, but to the ground by death; as also such who, being like Capernaum, lifted up to heaven with their own outward attainments, and think to get thither by them, are brought down to hell, and fall into the pit of corruption; BUT WE ARE RISEN, AND STAND UPRIGHT; who remember the name of the Lord, and trust in him; the church is sometimes in a very low and depressed condition; it consists of a poor and an afflicted people, and who are persecuted by men; so the church has been under the Heathen Roman emperors, and under the Papacy, and will be as long as she is in the wilderness, and the witnesses prophesy in sackcloth; and especially when they wi...

The 20 th Psalm is a prayer for the King; not only for David or Solomon, but for «great David's greater Son,» the true King of the Church. As if the Church saw Jesus going forth to his work, she offers up a prayer for him. Psalms 20:1. _The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee;_ And so it came to pass; in that dread night in Gethsemane, Jesus «was heard in that he feared.» The God of wrestling Jacob heard the cries of his dear Son, and defended him, or supported him, as it is in the marginal reading. Psalms 20:2. _Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;_ And you know how there came, from yonder heavenly Jerusalem, an angel strengthening him. The celestial messenger stood. at his side amidst

Psalms 20 Christ and His Salvation as Contemplated by His People _ 1. What God has done for Christ (Psalms 20:1)_ 2. The salvation His people enjoy (Psalms 20:5) Psalms 20:1. “My Redeemer” was the last word of the previous Psalm. Christ the Redeemer of His people is revealed in this Psalm. His death and sacrificial work, revealed in Psalms 22:1, are here anticipated. He who humbled Himself has been heard by Jehovah, He has set Him upon high (marginal reading), He has sent Him help, He has accepted His great offering, the whole burnt of

XX. A prayer for deliverance from national disaster, changing (probably after the sacrifice has been offered) into confidence at Psalms 20:6; Now know I, etc. The mention of a king or anointed one would seem to place the Ps. in pre-exilic times, unless we are prepared to carry it down to the reign of Aristobulus I (p. 608), the first of the Maccabees who took the royal title (105 B.C.). Certainly the religious tone is in favour of a Maccabean date. PSALMS 20:9. Follow _mg._...

STAND UPRIGHT. are established....